Dereks Diary Part 2

This is our last day in Wales. Going home tomorrow. Thursday it rained nearly all day so we didn't go out but yesterday was nice. Martyn, our son came on Thursday and stayed in a B&B next door but one for two nights. He has gone home this morning. Heather was off work yesterday and we all went a ride in her car to some nice places round about. Last night we all including our two grandchildren and Kelly our eldest grandsons girlfriend went out for a nice meal.

Dry today and I went on the allotment this afternoon and carried on with the weeding. As I said last time I went to do some weeding I thought it might be too wet but it was O.K. and I'm glad I went. Finished weeding the runner bean/sweet pea bed so next time I go I will begin digging the trenches for these crops.

Showery this morning but dry later. Rosemary needed the car part of the morning and afternoon so I didn't go to the allotment. The geraniums I brought home from Heathers in 9 inch pots I potted down into 5 inch as I have no room to keep big pots like that in the greenhouse all winter. The onions I sowed before I went away are just beginning to come up but I sowed some more as back up in case I am short.
I told you last year that some of the wood on the structure over my chrysanth bed onto which I fix polythene sheets had broken. This was caused by the weight of water on the covers. This afternoon I started trying to repair it.Also the whole structure is leaning over. I dug a hole at the base of each upright post and tried to push it into position.. Two of these posts are rotten at the bottom and will need replacing.

A neighbour of ours called Joan who is a good friend of Rosemary has had her name down for an allotment for a long time and her time has finally come !. She has been offered a plot next to mine. It is only half a plot because this is what we are offering people now due to the long waiting list. I have told you about Alan before who lives across the road from me and waters my plants for me any time I am away. He is going to help Joan and I took them both down this morning and also Joans husband to show them the plot. It badly wants digging over and weeding but they are looking forward to giving it a go. I will obviously help them all I can and give them seeds and plants to start them off when they have got it weeded. I showed her the most important building on the site where everybody goes, (the toilet).There is an allotment meeting on Monday and Joan is coming with me and I will introduce her to everybody.
It was a bit showery this morning but has been dry this afternoon. I was VERY windy though and I thought it was too windy to carry on repairing the chrysanth frame. I wouldn't have been able to hold the posts in place while I fastened the horizontal lengths to them. So I had an afternoon in the greenhouse getting my dahlia tubers ready for boxing up. They had been in boxes under the staging upside down to dry off. I got them out and tidied them up by cutting off all the thin roots and sorted them out into varieties.

I have boxed up my dahlia tubers this morning. They are in 5 boxes and 2 mushroom trays. I have a propagator and a warming mat in what I call my "utility room" next to the kitchen. Two of the boxes went on there and the rest on the warming benches in the greenhouse. I had to move some boxes of chrysanth stools off these benches to make room for the dahlias. The chrysanths are growing well so they don't need to be on now. There are plenty of cuttings on them ready to take but it's a bit early yet. I told you a few days ago that I was going to an allotment meeting tonight. I took all my spare dahlia tubers for anybody who wanted them and they all went. Better than putting them in the bin!
The weather is still a bit breezy but not as bad as it was so this afternoon I have carried on repairing the chrysanth frame.

Frosty this morning. Carried on with the chrysanth frame most of the day. Some of the horizontal lengths of wood need fixing to others with brackets so brackets so I had to go to B&Q for some.